Главная » 2008 » August » 26 » Military operations in Georgia have threatened Russia's membership in the G8 group and its bid for joining the WTO, a US official says.

Military operations in Georgia have threatened Russia's membership in the G8 group and its bid for joining the WTO, a US official says.

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"We included Russia in the Group of Eight (G8) leading industrialized nations. We welcomed and pushed forward Russia's desire to join the World Trade Organization. That is all at risk now," US Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez said on Saturday.

In an interview with German weekly Der Spiegel, Gutierrez said that Russia was maneuvering itself into an extremely difficult situation, Reuters reported based on the German text of the interview.

On August 8, Georgian military forces attacked the breakaway region of South Ossetia to retake its control. In response, Russia moved its forces to the region where most of the population has Russian citizenship.

The conflict ended after Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signed a French-brokered ceasefire deal last week.

The US official also urged Russia to consider its current situation for any decision.

"In this crisis situation we can't start taking options off the table. The Russian government now needs to think about what its interests are," said Gutierrez.

This is while the US commerce secretary announced previously that the conflict had no impact on Russia's bid for the World Trade Organization.

Earlier, US President George W. Bush said that the South Ossetia conflict was hurting Russia's efforts to join modern global economic and security institutions.

Russia is still outside the WTO as a country with the world's 10th largest economy.